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Hi,

I've only just discovered this group so if I'm asking something thats
already been answered in the past then please accept my apologies.

I'm a 30 year old male and I was diagnosed with the Coeliac condition
about 9 years ago. I believe that I've suffered with it since I was
a baby - in retrospect I had all the mild reactions that occur in
Coeliac disease. Over the years my condition became worse and it got so
bad that a 5 week stay in the hosital was required - this is when they
discovered that I did have Coeliac disease.

I've since followed a very strict gluten free diet, and have lately
added a lactose free diet as well because I seem to react to foods
containing lactose.

During the past 9 years I've had several incidents where I've inadvertently
eaten gluten. This has caused very severe reactions. Each time this occurs
the incident is much more severe than the previous incident.
The last incident occured on a British airways flight (yes I did order
the gluten free meal). They had included a small cheese biscuit in the GF meal
which wasn't gluten free.

Within 2 months I had lost 18Kg (almost 40 pounds), I suffered extreme
light sensitivity for 2 months (it was so bad I had to wear sunglasses in
a shutte red room), increased hair loss (including eyelashes), arthritic
pains, abdominal pains, depression, an extreme lack of concentration,
memory loss, and extreme fatigue to mention a few symtoms. The most disturbing
it the loss of my analytical skills during times such as these - basically,
I become stupid.

It took at least 10 months to fully recover my mental health but my physical
health took much longer - its been 2 years since that incident and I've only
regained 50% of the weight I lost.

I also suffer from Dermatitis Herpetiformis around my anal area, and have done
so for the past 13 years or more. This seems to get worse when I eat anything
containing lactose, as well as gluten.

So my questions are;

1) Am I out of the ordinary or are most coeliacs as sensitive as I?

2) Is is possible to increase in sensitivity? I'd always thought that the
sensitivity would decrease in time is you stayed away from gluten.

3) Why do you refer to the condition as Celiac where the U.K. calls it Coeliac?

Any feedback or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Adrian Mills
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